Todd Covini
04-23-2007, 12:19 AM
Word will likely get out soon, so I thought I'd update you guys & gals on this past weekend's excitement in summarized fashion.
1) Great weekend of pro road-racing at Reliant Park in Houston.
www.grandprixofhouston.com
2) Champ Car, ALMS, MX-5 Cup, and a whole bunch else.
3) Very cool to see all the stars of road racing as if it were our AI/CMC paddock. (I talked to Andy Wallace briefly. He said "excuse me" in order to get by in the crowd.)
4) MSR Houston hosted a charity race (high-dollar entry fundraiser) and was on the entire weekend schedule. On Thursday, a last minute glitch left them without a sanctioning body and NASA was asked to help out.
5) After working with MSR Houston, NASA National and the Champ Car folks, NASA became the sanctioning body for the charity race which ran by NASA rules. The 15 or so racecars were stickered up with NASA decals, banners went up and NASA had a presence at this nationally known, spectator event.
6) Shannon, Clifton, Adrian, Ryan and the gang "sprung into action" in a moment's notice and were able to officiate the practice, quals and final charity race on Sunday.
7) With NASA sanctioning, Jay Matus' Porsche was able to participate in the race. Unfortunately, in spectacular "Michael Mosty" fashion, he had no slow pedal at the end of the long straight and smacked the wall at full song (~125mph?) broadside in Turn 6 during practice. Seeing the car and the location of the incident, Jay's lucky to not have any broken bones or injuries. Unfortunate incident but very glad he's OK. (car pics attached) (The K-wall apparently moved 4 feet back due to the impact and may hold the ChampCar safety crew record :oops: .)
On the bright side...some great news!!! I was able to talk a bit to the folks at MSR Houston & NASA Texas in person on Saturday evening at the event during the MX-5 race. Updates regarding changes at MSR Houston coming separately & soon!!! :D
-=- Todd
1) Great weekend of pro road-racing at Reliant Park in Houston.
www.grandprixofhouston.com
2) Champ Car, ALMS, MX-5 Cup, and a whole bunch else.
3) Very cool to see all the stars of road racing as if it were our AI/CMC paddock. (I talked to Andy Wallace briefly. He said "excuse me" in order to get by in the crowd.)
4) MSR Houston hosted a charity race (high-dollar entry fundraiser) and was on the entire weekend schedule. On Thursday, a last minute glitch left them without a sanctioning body and NASA was asked to help out.
5) After working with MSR Houston, NASA National and the Champ Car folks, NASA became the sanctioning body for the charity race which ran by NASA rules. The 15 or so racecars were stickered up with NASA decals, banners went up and NASA had a presence at this nationally known, spectator event.
6) Shannon, Clifton, Adrian, Ryan and the gang "sprung into action" in a moment's notice and were able to officiate the practice, quals and final charity race on Sunday.
7) With NASA sanctioning, Jay Matus' Porsche was able to participate in the race. Unfortunately, in spectacular "Michael Mosty" fashion, he had no slow pedal at the end of the long straight and smacked the wall at full song (~125mph?) broadside in Turn 6 during practice. Seeing the car and the location of the incident, Jay's lucky to not have any broken bones or injuries. Unfortunate incident but very glad he's OK. (car pics attached) (The K-wall apparently moved 4 feet back due to the impact and may hold the ChampCar safety crew record :oops: .)
On the bright side...some great news!!! I was able to talk a bit to the folks at MSR Houston & NASA Texas in person on Saturday evening at the event during the MX-5 race. Updates regarding changes at MSR Houston coming separately & soon!!! :D
-=- Todd